What readers think of Yale Needs Women, plus links to write your own review.

This book is an inspiring story of the strength, resilience, and courage of five particular female students out of a total of over five hundred. The five - two black and three white – had quite different backgrounds, talents, and ambitions and were part of the integration of females into the student body at Yale University in 1969. The book also includes informative information about the disparity of females at that time insofar as the Yale's total staff members and instructors. I read that the book followed five years of research and 80 interviews of people involved in this dramatic change and the author's well documented research is obvious in the chapters of the book.
Before I tell you about how I felt about this book, let me tell you something about myself. I am 84 years old and I faced prejudice against women in the work force back when I entered the work force in 1956; but I had to overcome it by working harder than any of the male peers in my field did. I also influenced my daughter (who happened to be born before women were admitted to Yale) to believe that she could do or become anything she wanted to become despite being female even though I do not remember ever specifically having a conversation with her about that subject. On her own, she chose to enter a man's field (becoming a pilot in the US military) and succeeded despite prejudice from the older military officers. By the way, the prejudice she felt was very much a generational thing – the men of her generation accepted her presence.
So now, let me tell you my views on the book.
I think it was a historical masterpiece for anyone who is looking for modern history of a gender free world. Her research shines out from start to finish and I feel much better informed now about the subject.
I enjoyed the writing style of the author. It was very easy to read and not filled with educationese.
On the other hand, I think that the approval and popularity of the book will vary according to where the reader falls in spectrum of the age of all reviewers. Many types of types of prejudices vary in accordance with the generation of the responder.

Even though I enjoyed all of the information provided in this book, I found it difficult to continue reading I attended a historically male state supported universita that had allowed women to attend as freshmen only 5 years before I began. Luckily I did not encounter any of the sexism that was so prevalent at Yale.